Weak Storm Brings Rains

21,000 Left Without Power As Dry Areas Gets A Soaking

Tropical Storm Alberto limped ashore Tuesday, giving most of Florida a much-needed soaking but sparing the state major damage to both property and psyches.

The storm never became a hurricane, with wind speed topping out at about 50 mph as it ran aground near Adams Beach about 50 miles southeast of Tallahassee.

It brought sheets of rain, flooded some coastal community streets and left about 21,000 homes without power. There were no reports of serious injuries or deaths.

In the end, Alberto, after threatening to become a hurricane Monday, didn't ruffle the waterlogged feathers of Floridians accustomed to much bigger storms.

"This, locals consider a mosquito breeze," said Bruce Tayco, a restaurant worker in the small coastal fishing town of Steinhatchee. "When it's a tropical storm, we don't even consider it."

Charter boat captain John Bow rattled off a list of storms that packed greater punch as he watched waves crash against a Steinhatchee seawall.

"A thunderstorm at high tide does worse than this," said Bow, who sat in the Crabbie Dads restaurant sipping whiskey and Seven Up.

Even Cedar Key, an island in the Gulf that worried forecasters had predicted could be hit hard, fared well.

"We've been saying that Cedar Key is going to get it," Sandy Heckler said as she checked on neighbors. "If this is it, we're good."

Mostly, Alberto brought badly needed rain. Late Tuesday, the National Weather Service said that over three days the storm dumped almost 4 inches of rain at Orlando International Airport and slightly more than 4 inches in Sanford.

"Darn right we needed it," said state climatologist James O'Brien said in Tallahassee. "We're in a major drought."

Much of the state has been parched this year by rainfall amounts far below normal. In Central Florida, that's led to wildfires and brown, scraggly lawns.

Until Alberto's rains, the region had been in a record-setting dry spell, receiving only about half the 17 inches that normally fall by mid-June.

For Orlando, the stretch of January through April was the driest four-month start to a year on record.

Alberto was strong enough to lure tropical moisture across much of the state, except for the western Panhandle.

"We don't want the big storms but need the smaller ones for the rain," O'Brien said.

It was probably not enough to end drought conditions, said John Pendergrast, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Melbourne. Pendergrast said the region needs several days of steady rain to make up for powder-dry conditions earlier this year.

It was also unclear if the rain would be enough to smother stubborn muck fires that have smoldered for weeks. Despite that, forestry officials celebrated the storm's dousing.

"This is just what the doctor ordered," said Timber Weller, of the Florida Division of Forestry. "This rain is great."

Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson said 18 blazes statewide were extinguished by Tuesday's rain, but about 150 "hot spots" were still active.

Pendergrast said Alberto's early appearance is another bit of evidence the state might face another active hurricane season.